


A Truth Universally Acknowledged

by adavison



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Muggle, Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, Fluff, Library AU, Literary References, M/M, Pride and Prejudice References, Quarantine due to COVID-19, Zoom Book Club
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:53:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26142904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adavison/pseuds/adavison
Summary: Bored out of his mind during quarantine, Harry joins the virtual book club hosted by the hot new librarian in Godric's Hollow.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Comments: 24
Kudos: 118
Collections: Pen15 Challenge 13: Love in the Time of Quarantine





	A Truth Universally Acknowledged

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, friends!
> 
> 2020 has been a complete dumpster fire of a year. So here's some Library AU fluff!!!
> 
> While COVID-19 is mentioned, it is not discussed in detail.
> 
> Special thanks to my beta and friend [meditationsinemergencies](https://archiveofourown.org/users/meditationsinemergencies/profile)
> 
> Disclaimer: All characters belong to JKR and associated publishers. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended. The comments and opinions expressed by the original creator do not reflect the views of the author of this transformative work.

It had all started as a way to spend a bit more time around Draco, the hot new librarian. They had gotten in the habit of chatting whenever Harry made his weekly trek down to the small branch in Godric’s Hollow—even on the days when he had his godson Teddy in tow. However, the pandemic had changed all of that.

They had been friendly, but not friendly enough for Harry to have gotten his number or feel comfortable shooting him a friend request on Facebook. Not that it mattered, the man either didn’t have an account or had made himself unsearchable. Harry had checked. 

There had been reports for months about a rapidly spreading virus that was infecting tens of thousands of people, but it had all been happening on the other side of the world. No one had expected it to become as bad as it did. The whole country shut down within a few weeks of the first reported case in the UK. Everyone who was non-essential was either furloughed or made to work from home. 

Harry had taught his Year Three students through Zoom for three months until the term ended for the summer holidays. Since then, he had felt adrift. Lost, with nothing to do. It was unclear whether in-person classes would resume that autumn and his usual summer plans of keeping Teddy were no longer happening. He knew that Remus and Sirius were desperate for a break, but with Remus’ chronic illness, they were on total lockdown. 

There was only so much Harry could do around the house before he started to go stir-crazy. He had completed all the little projects he had planned for the house. He had deep cleaned and KonMari’d. He planted flowers in his front garden. He even learned to bake bread. Desperate for a new activity, Harry checked out the library’s Facebook page to see if they had a link to the digital collection Hermione had told him about. It was there that he saw Draco.

Although closed for the foreseeable future, the Godric’s Hollow Library was not lacking for virtual content. A quick scroll through their timeline showed multiple online events and activities going on daily. There were yoga classes, cooking demonstrations, crafting tutorials, and trivia nights. It was jam-packed with content all led by the librarians. 

However, one activity, in particular, caught his eye. On Tuesday nights, a book club for adults was hosted through Zoom by none other than Draco. The book list didn’t look all that interesting, but most were classic novels that he could tick off his To Be Read list, and he would actually get to interact with Draco. 

So now, he was three weeks into _Pride and Prejudice_ , the first book they had covered that didn’t make him want to claw his eyes out. He could admit now that the book was good. He loved it, actually, even though the first one hundred pages had dragged by. 

Originally, he felt the book to be rather frivolous. Tedious even. The manners and talk of marriage bored him. He missed the action of his usual reads, yet he persevered. It wasn’t until he was introduced to the odious Mr Collins that Austen’s skill at characterization burst forth from the page and whacked him over the head. Harry found himself drawn into the story. Completely absorbed. He relished logging on every Tuesday evening, not just to see Draco, but to talk about the book. 

Book club had become the highlight of his week, and he enjoyed everything about it. Everything except for Dolores and her “gentleman friend”, Cornelius. The pair constantly tried to monopolize the discussion and, usually, completely missed the point.

Draco, for his part, moderated the discussion rather well, but whenever the pair got on a roll it was hard to stop them—much to the annoyance of the other members. They had started as a group of twelve but had slowly dwindled down to eight. Harry was fairly sure that he could guess why.

That evening Dolores railed about how idiotic it was for Elizabeth, who was ‘a shrew of a girl’, in her opinion, to chose Mr Darcy. “The girl would have done much better by accepting Mr Collins’ offer,” she said in her simpering voice. “At least then she could have learned humility and appreciation for the kindness she receives from others. And more direct supervision from the delightful Lady Catherine de Bourgh would have done the girl well.”

Harry’s eyes widened in shock at that. He was usually able to tune out the two codgers when they got on one of their rants, but today they were rubbing him the wrong way. Katie and Cho, two other members of the club, had already muted themselves and Harry was pretty sure they were taking their opinions to a private chat. He doubted Delores and Cornelious even knew how that function worked.

Draco was doing his best to politely interrupt Delores and steer the discussion back to the topic at hand: Why Elizabeth changed her mind about Darcy. However, the woman was relentless. 

“Yes, Draco,” she drawled, “but if you would just let me finish. This is a novel about the lives of women, after all. And you know that I have no interest in carrying the discussion, but as the only woman to even volunteer an opinion this session, I feel that I must educate you young men—”

Harry had to hide his look of incredulity behind his insanely large mug of tea—which may or may not have had a shot of whiskey mixed in. Struck with annoyance and his inhibitions slightly lowered due to the spiked tea—well, that was what he was telling himself, he really just didn’t give a fuck anymore—Harry silently posted to the group chat.

**Harry Potter:**

***

Draco nearly spat out his tea when he saw the meme Harry posted in the chat. He had just been picturing Dolores as the disgruntled Mrs Bennet who never shut up. However, even that thought was too kind. 

Mrs Bennet at least had a good reason for being irritating. Making sure that all five of her daughters were married off and were provided for before the death of her husband—who clearly didn’t understand the seriousness of the issue—in the early 1800s was much more pressing than Dolores choosing to believe the virus was a hoax and using book club to vent her frustrations. 

Draco looked forward to the day when the library opened back up just so that he could refuse the woman entry for not wearing a face mask. She would go off of course—just like the Karen she was—but the policy had already been set: No shirt, no shoes, no mask, no service. 

He knew that this wasn’t a very charitable thought to have and that no one should be denied access to the library. Libraries were places of knowledge, learning, and community. All were welcome. But Dolores was a right cunt and he’d be damned if he let anyone into his library who would refuse to be courteous and, for the sake of others, wear a goddamned mask during a global pandemic!

As the moderator of the book club, Draco needed to remain professional and put a stop to any and all targeting of other members, no matter how accurate he found their statements, or in this case memes. He quickly schooled his features but a glance at the screen showed that Harry had caught his reaction. He hastily typed out the standard message in the chat.

 **Draco:** Please keep all discussions within the chat civil and polite. Participants who are unable to do so will be asked to leave the session.

He could have sworn that Harry snickered and winked at the camera. However, his attention was drawn back to the rest of the little windows on his screen. Two people had left the meeting, Katie and Cho were clearly not paying attention, and Dolores was still on a roll. However, now, she is at least speaking about their current topic.

The woman looked as though she had a bad smell in her nose. “Lizzy,” she continued, each word punctuated with disdain, “reveals her true colours after traipsing through Pemberley and seeing Mr Darcy’s wealth first hand. She’s nothing more than a gold-digging, social-climbing hussy.”

Harry scoffed and set down his mug with a loud thunk. 

Draco knew it was coming and yet he was powerless to stop the noble fury, the righteous indignation, that he knew was just lurking under Potter’s sweet sensitive demeanour. It was slightly terrifying and very, very sexy.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, Dolores,” Harry said, clearly not sorry in the least. “But you have got to be shitting me.”

 _Oh fuck,_ Draco thought. _This is going to be good._

“I’m not sure what Cliff’s Notes version you’ve been consuming,” Harry continued, “but clearly you and I read two entirely different novels.” 

He pulled a very well-loved copy of _Pride and Prejudice_ into view of his laptop camera. The paperback was clearly an older edition, with cover art that Draco hadn’t seen in years. It was water stained and many pages appeared to be dog-eared. New brightly coloured post-it flags sticking out from various pages. 

Harry quickly thumbed through the book opening it to a particular page. There were passages underlined and highlighted. Notes were written in cramped spiky handwriting in all the margins and Harry pulled a tiny notebook into the frame as well—one that looked a lot like what a Bobby would use whilst taking reports. He apparently had corresponding notes to each flagged passage and Draco, while slightly distressed by the literal writing in the book, couldn’t deny that he was insanely turned on.

Harry cleared his throat. “If you had actually read the book Dolores, you would have known that there were a combination of events that led Elizabeth to change her opinion on Mr Darcy and then fall for him. Her attitude changes toward him after the letter. Setting aside the fact that he used it as a chance to explain his actions towards Wickham and breaking up Jane and Bingly, he demonstrated himself to be truthful and trustworthy by backing the fuck off and not trying to get Elizabeth to reconsider her refusal of his proposal. 

“So many romance novels and films show the man doggedly pursuing the woman until he finally wears her down and she goes out with him. In reality, that stuff is scary and downright stalkerish. Darcy hands her the letter and then leaves. He doesn’t stick around to watch her read it. He leaves. The letter even starts out, and I quote: ‘Be not alarmed, Madam, on receiving [ this letter ](https://pemberley.com/janeinfo/pptopics.html#letter6rev) , by the apprehension of its containing any repetition of those sentiments, or renewal of those offers, which were last night so disgusting to you. I write without any intention of paining you, or humbling myself, by dwelling on wishes, which, for the happiness of both, cannot be too soon forgotten; and the effort which the formation and the perusal of [ this letter ](https://pemberley.com/janeinfo/pptopics.html#letter6rev) must occasion should have been spared, had not my character required it to be written and read. You must, therefore, pardon the freedom with which I demand your attention; your feelings, I know, will bestow it unwillingly, but I demand it of your justice.’

“He took her refusal at face value, only refuted her misconceptions about his actions, and left her the fuck alone! 

“As for your comment about her being a ‘gold-digging hussy’, she reluctantly goes to Pemberley with her Aunt and Uncle who were very interested in seeing the place. She only agrees to go in once she learns that Darcy isn’t at home. Yes, she is decently impressed by his wealth, however, it is more to the fact that she was impressed by the way he cared for his home, his sister, and his staff.

“Finally, after she mentions the issue of Lydia eloping with Wickham to Darcy he quietly foots the bill for and ensures that the pair are married, thus saving the Bennet family from scandal. He insists on keeping his name out of it. He doesn’t go flaunt it at Elizabeth all, ‘Look at me, I’m such a good person.’ no! He never intends for her to find out. However, loud-mouth Lydia spills the beans. 

“So, in conclusion, Darcy didn’t pester her, changed his attitude, and backed it all up with actions. Not so that Elizabeth would see and change her mind, but because he was an honourable man. So take that bi—”

“Okay,” Draco cut in, quickly placing Harry on mute. “Thank you for your thoughts Harry, Dolores. Next week we will be starting _Of Mice and Men_ by John Steinbeck. The link for a digital copy will become available tomorrow at noon. If you have any questions between now and then feel free to shoot me an email.”

While everyone was murmuring their goodbyes, Draco sent Harry a private message, requesting he stay behind. He had to suppress a smirk at the guilty look that flashed across the man’s face, one that was clearly expecting a scolding. 

When everyone else had finally logged off, words burst from Harry’s mouth. “Look, I know that I probably shouldn’t have been so antagonistic towards her but Dolores—”

“Clearly didn’t read as closely as you,” Draco interrupted. “I’m impressed, Harry.”

Harry’s eyebrows nearly got lost in his riotous hairline. “You’re not going to reprimand me for nearly calling Dolores a—”

He shook his head. “Just remember to keep it PG. I’d hate to have to remove you from the group.”

“Yeah,” Harry let out a relieved breath. “Seeing you is the highlight of my week.” Immediately realizing what he had said, Harry clamped a hand over his mouth, his bronzed skin flushing in embarrassment. “I— I mean…”

Draco was sure that the tips of his ears had turned a bright red. He had fancied Harry ever since the first day he saw him in the library with Teddy. However, he had yet to work up the courage to do anything about it. Besides, he would have hated to make Harry uncomfortable and drive the man away from their small branch.

A slow smile spread across his face as he chose to finally relieve Harry of his suffering. “Mine too.”

Harry grinned and shyly bit his lip. “So, if I were to ask you to have tea with me tomorrow via Zoom, would you… Is that something you’d be interested in?”

Draco could feel his blush spreading down his neck and across his cheeks. He always hated blushing. His pale skin stained tomato red. However, the look in Harry’s eyes made him forget his self-consciousness for a moment and made him bold. “Alright. It’s a date.” 


End file.
